The Mythology of Discworld

1
The Mythology of Discworld
2
The Disc
3
The Disc

• Hindu cosmology has four or eight great elephants
  called the diggaja, elephants of the directions,
  with gods on their backs.
• Another legend shows the world on the back of a
  single elephant, Maha-Padma, standing on the
  tortoise Chukwa.

• "The world rides through space on the back of a
  turtle. This is one of the great ancient world
  myths, found wherever men and turtles are
  gathered together the four elephants were an
  indo-European sophistication. The idea has been
  lying in the lumber room of legend for centuries.
  All I had to do was grab it and run away before
  the alarms went off."

4
The Other Discs

• A blue-green ball, crisscrossed with tiny white
  cloud patterns and what could have been
  continents if anyone was silly enough to try to
  live on a ball.
• A snake big enough to encircle a worldbiting its
  own tail.
• Instead of the Rimfall there was a wall of ice
  and instead of the Hub there was a gigantic tree.

5
Elves

• Her maidens skipped off into the palace and
  returned with the dazed-looking boy. They adorned
  him with rhododendrons and jewels, whirling him
  round and round in a manic dance and tittering in
  his ears. He fell at the queens feet, kissing
  them repeatedly. In response, she kissed him many
  times on the lips, and, drawing him to her, she
  sported with him, twining his long hair with
  pearls and setting her own crown on his head. At
  length, she tired of this, and kicked him up into
  the air like a football. Enough of this one now
  kiss him, girls, to death.

• An elf's strength lay in persuading others they
  were weak.
• Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.Elves
  are marvelous. They cause marvels.Elves are
  fantastic. They create fantasies.Elves are
  glamorous. They project glamour.Elves are
  enchanting. They weave enchantment.Elves are
  terrific. They beget terror.No one ever said
  elves are nice.Elves are bad.

6
Rescue from Elfland

• Oh gloomy gloomy was the night, and eerie was
  the waywhen Janet hid among the trees,the faery
  fold tae spy.
• Twas first she saw the black, black steed,and
  then she saw the brown.But Tam raid on the milk
  white steedand she pulled him tae the ground.
• The faeires changed him in her arms,a burning
  coal of fire,but Janet held him tae her
  breast,to be her heart's desire.
• The faeries changed him in her arms,a wolf and
  then a snake,but Janet held him tae her
  breast,all for her true love's sake.
• They changed him in her arms at last,a wild and
  naked man,but still she held him tae her
  breast,and so she won Tam Lin, Tam Lin.And so
  she won Tam Lin.

• Magrat I remember a folksong about a situation
  just like this. This girl had her fiancé stolen
  by the Queen of the elves and she didnt hang
  around whining, she jolly well got on her horse
  and went and got him. Well, Im going to do that
  too.

7
Dwarves

• All dwarfs have beards and wear up to twelve
  layers of clothing. Gender is more or less
  optional.
• All dwarfs are by nature dutiful, serious,
  literate, obedient and thoughtful people whose
  only minor failing is a tendency, after one
  drink, to rush at enemies screaming "Arrrrrrgh!"
  and axing their legs off at the knee.
• Dwarfs are very attached to gold. Any highwayman
  demanding 'Your money or your life' had better
  bring a folding chair and packed lunch and a book
  to read while the debate goes on.

• Norse dwarves were short, ugly, and uniformly
  male. They were magical creatures with huge skill
  at metallurgy, taking fame for making great
  artifacts of legend.

8
Trolls

• Somehow, you could tell it was made up by a
  troll'Now we sing dis stupid song!''Sing it as
  we run along!''Why we sing dis we don't
  know!''We can't make der words rhyme
  prop'ly!''Sound off!''One! Two!''Sound
  off!''Many! Lots!''Sound Off!''Er ... What?'

• Mountain trolls from Iceland and Norway are
  immensely old and strong, hurl boulders and cause
  avalanches.
• The Icelandic night-troll avoids sunlight, which
  turns it permanently into stone.

9
Death

• People's whole lives do pass in front of their
  eyes before they die. The process is called
  'living'
• When it's time to stop living, I will certainly
  make Death my number one choice!
• -Rincewind

• Old Father Time carries a scythe and hourglass.
  He derives from Cronus (Saturn) god of
  agriculture and time.

10
Death

• The new death raised his cowl. There was no face
  there. There was not even a skull. Smoke curled
  formlessly between the robe and a golden crown.
• A crown? I never wore a crown!
• You never wanted to rule.

• Paradise Lost What seemed his head
• The likeness of a kingly crown had on

11
The Auditors

• Intelligent life, was, therefore, an anomaly. It
  made the filing untidy. The Auditors hated little
  things like that. Periodically, they tried to
  tidy things up a little.

12
The Luggage

• The ancient Chinese believed that the pear was a
  symbol of immortality. (Pear trees live for a
  long time.) They were also self-fertilizing and
  thus a symbol of dualism.

13
The Feegles

• "Nac Mac Feegle! The Wee Free Men! Nae king! Nae
  quin! Nae laird! Nae master! We willna be fooled
  again!"
• "We are a famously stealin' folk. Aren't we,
  lads? Whut's it we're famous for?""Stealin'!"
  shouted the blue men."And what else,
  lads?""Fightin'!""And what else?""Drinkin'!""A
  nd what else?"There was a certain amount of
  thought about this, but they all reached the same
  conclusion."Drinkin' and fightin'!""And there
  was summat else," muttered the twiddler. "Ach,
  yes. Tell the hag, lads!""Stealin' an' drinkin'
  an' fightin'!" shouted the blue men cheerfully.

The Picti, ancient painted warriors of Scotland,
were so fierce they held off the Romans. Some
Scotsmen described unco wee bodies but terrible
strang, who lived under burial mounds. They were
associated with underworld spirits. Short wee
men they were, wi red hair and feet sae braid
that when it rained they could turn them up owre
their heads, and then they served for umbrellas.
14
Witches

• Then the Badb, and Macha, and Morrigu went to the
  hill of hostage-taking, the tulach which heavy
  hosts frequented, to Temhair (Tara), and they
  shed druidically formed showers, and
  fog-sustaining shower-clouds, and poured down
  from the air, about the heads of the warriors,
  enormous masses of fire, and streams of red
  blood and they did not permit the Fir-Bolgs to
  scatter or separate for the space of three days
  and three nights.

• "The thing about witchcraft," said Mistress
  Weatherwax, "is that it's not like school at all.
  First you get the test, and then afterward you
  spend years findin' out how you passed it. It's a
  bit like life in the respect."

15
Wyrd Sisters

• The Norns, are called lawmakers as well as the
  arbiters of fate, ever virginal, ever spinning
• Thence come maidens
• three,
• Having knowledge of many things
• Urth one is called
• The second Verthandi
• Skuld the third.
• They laid down laws,
• They chose life
• for the children of people
• They tell fates.
• --The Poetic Edda

• Three witches was good. Two wouldnt be enough,
  four would be too many. They could be meddling
  with the destinies of mankind and everything.
  Lots of smoke and green light. You could do a lot
  with three witches. It was surprising no one had
  thought of it before.

16
Golems

• 'I Suggest You Take Me And Smash Me And Grind The
  Bits Into Fragments And Pound The Fragments Into
  Powder And Mill Them Again To The Finest Dust
  There Can Be, And I Believe You Will Not Find A
  Single Atom Of Life-'
• 'True! Let's do it!'
• 'However, In Order To Test This Fully, One Of You
  Must Volunteer To Undergo The Same Process.'
• There was silence.
• 'That's not fair,' said a priest, after a while.
  'All anyone has to do is bake up your dust again
  and you'll be alive...'
• There was more silence.

The golem itself is a creature from Jewish
mythology, a man made of clay and animated by
Kabbalistic magic. God's secret name on a
parchment was placed in its forehead. The one
thing it could not do is speak, because only God
can grant the power of speech. The Golem of
Prague was between seven-and-a-half and nine feet
tall and had tremendous strength, but had a very
placid and passive disposition when not under
orders to act otherwise.
17
Dragon-Slayers
Dragon-Slayers Perseus St. George Beowulf Sigmund
Siegfried
Dibbler When a stranger comes into the city
under the thrall of the dragon and challenges it
with a glittery sword, weeell, theres only one
outcome, aint there? Its probably destiny.
18
Demons

• "Some ancient and probably fearful warning was
  edged over the crumbling arch, but it was
  destined to remain unread because over it someone
  had pasted a red-and-white notice which read
  'You Don't Have To Be 'Damned' To Work Here, But
  It Helps!!!'"
• The whole sequence in Hell is based loosely on
  Dante's Inferno (which in turn is based on
  Vergil's Aeneid)

19
Vampires

• It was hard enough to kill a vampire. You could
  stake them down and turn them into dust and ten
  years later someone drops a drop of blood in the
  wrong place and guess who's back? They returned
  more times than raw broccoli.
• 'Will it be enough to know that the world is your
  oyster?'Her forehead wrinkled in perplexity.
  'Why should I want it to be some nasty little sea
  creature?' she said.'Because they get eaten
  alive,' said the Count.

20
New Vampires
21
New Vampires

• "Oh, my vord, vake up and smell zer garlic! Oh,
  zer stories I could tell you." Otto paused. "But
  I von't because I don't do zat sort of thing any
  more, now that I have seen the daylightthat vas
  in zer bad old days," said Otto hurriedly. "Now I
  like nothing better than a nice mug of cocoa and
  a good sing-song around zer harmonium, I assure
  you. Oh yes. My vord."

22
The Pantheon
23
The Pantheon

• Offler echo of Ancient Egyptian crocodile god
  Sobek, dangerous, yet fierce.
• Flatulus (back), The Ephebian God of the Winds.
  Reminiscent of Aeolus, Greek god of winds.
• Fate He is said to come from a world other than
  the Disc. In most myths, Fate cannot be cheated,
  even by luck.
• Urika The Goddess of Snow, Saunas and Theatrical
  Performances for Fewer than 120 People. Her name
  is probably a parody of the word Eureka, and the
  Swedish celebrity Ulrika Jonsson.

24
The Pantheon

• Blind Io He is always accompanied by two ravens,
  much like Odin. Odin was also famed for
  sacrificing his left eye for wisdom. He sits like
  a patriarchal sky god Zeus, Odin, etc.
• In India, Shivas wife mischievously covered his
  eyes, and he grew a third eye to compensate.

25
The Pantheon

• Libertina (center) The Goddess of the Sea, Apple
  Pie, Certain Types of Ice Cream and Short Lengths
  of String. Her name and appearance suggest the
  Statue of Liberty (which overlooks the sea).
  Apple pie and some ice creams are famously linked
  with the US, across the sea.
• The Lady Nemesis was the deadliest Greek
  goddess, who could level the playing field for
  those being treated unfairly. Her counterpart was
  luck (Lady Luck) who distributed her favors more
  randomly.

26
The Pantheon

• Bibulous from Bacchus, god of wine
• Patina (back) The Ephebian Goddess of Wisdom, a
  portmanteau of Pallas and Athena, her helmet and
  penguin (er, owl) reflect the Greek goddess of
  war and craft.
• Topaxi (front) the God of Certain Mushrooms. His
  name and appearance suggest an Aztec deity.
• Bast (back) Bast was the benevolent and
  protective Egyptian Cat-Goddess.
• Nuggan. God of Paperclips, Correct Things in the
  Right Place in Small Desk Stationery Sets, and
  Unnecessary Paperwork. Quite a bureaucrat. God of
  Borogravia. No wonder hes annoyed.

27
The Pantheon

• According to Aztec mythology, Quetzalcóatl was
  supposed to return to his people at some
  particular future date. He was a winged serpent.
• Romulus and Remus were two orphaned brothers.
  Raised by a wolf, the brothers went on to found
  Rome.
• Set is the Egyptian god of the Underworld.

• The Tezumen god, Quetzovercoatl, the Feathered
  Boa."
• The legend of Ankh-Morpork being founded by two
  orphaned brothers who had been found and suckled
  by a hippopotamus
• Pyramids describes the complete set of gods

28
Prometheus

• Ahura Mazda was a culture hero, Zoroastrian god
  of truth and light. His enemy was the evil Angra
  Mainyu.
• Prometheus Bound "Prometheus I hunted out
  and stored in fennel stalk the stolen source of
  fire that has proved a teacher to mortals in
  every art and a means to mighty ends."

• Fingers-Mazda, the first thief in the world,
  stole fire from the gods. But he was unable to
  fence it. It was too hot.He got really burned on
  that deal.

29
Lilith

• For every mirror is a gateway to the Other World
  and leads directly to Lilith's cave. That is the
  cave Lilith went to when she abandoned Adam and
  the Garden of Eden for all time, the cave where
  she sported with her demon lovers. From these
  unions multitudes of demons were born, who
  flocked from that cave and infiltrated the world.
  And when they want to return, they simply enter
  the nearest mirror. That is why it is said that
  Lilith makes her home in every mirror.

• A mirror can suck up a piece of soul. A mirror
  can contain the reflection of the whole universe,
  a whole skilful of stars in a piece of silvered
  glass no thicker than a breath.
• Lily You know, youre really just like me. Dont
  you know that? There isnt a thought thats gone
  through my head that you havent thought too.
• Her horrified gaze rose to meet a reflection.
• It glared back at her
• Granny Weatherwax stepped through the empty frame.

30
Unseen University
31
Wizard Schools

• The School of Magic on Roke Island in the
  Earthsea Cycle.
• Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches from The Worst
  Witch
• Magic School on the Charmed television series.

• "This is the school, isn't it. The magic place?
  The world. Here. And you don't realize it until
  you look. Do you know the pictsies think this
  world is heaven? We just don't look. You can't
  give lessons on witchcraft. Not properly. It's
  all about who you are... you, I suppose."

32
www.calithwain.com